Mop and attachment therefor



Feb. 9, 1954 SOLOMON 2,668,312

MOP AND ATTACHMENT THEREFOR Filed July 14, 1951 Z fzUenZ'or PatentedFeb. 9, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 9 Claims.

, v 1 This invention relates to improvements in mop head attachments.

. Speaking more specifically the invention pertains to an improvedattachment for a mop the head of which is swingably mounted upon ahandle member, the attachment provided by this invention tendingyieldingly to urge the mop head toward one limit of its swingingmovement and thus enable the user of the mop more forcibly to apply, bymeans of the handle, a portion of the mop head to a surface area whichis being cleaned.

A housewife, janitor or other person who has occasion to use a mopeither for dusting or scrubhing-will frequently encounter a surface areaof a floor or Wall which cannot be properly cleaned unless the mop headbe applied thereto in a more forcible manner than usual, and it isdifficult to apply the additional pressure required at such times whenusing the ordinary mop head, for all portions of the under surface ofthe head of a pivoted-on mop head will engage with substantially equalpressure the surface being cleaned.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome theaforesaid difficulty by providing, for application to mop heads now inuse, an improved attachment that will, with considerable force, urge apivoted-on mop head toward one limit of its swinging movement.

A more specific object is to provide a one-piece,

coiled spring member which can be manufactured at a very low cost andyet when attached to the mop head will efficiently perform the intendedfunction.

The invention further relates to a new article r? of manufactureconsisting of a coiled spring The invention relates to improvements inthe type of spring used in my copending application on a similar devicefiled July 22, 1950; S. N.

175,350, now abandoned. The spring means provided by the presentinvention differs from that disclosed in my said co-pending applicationand is of a more durable character because it comprises acoiledresilient wire the coils of which encircle an oval line. and, therefore,in performing its mop head swinging function the stress uponsaid springtends to spread apart the coils thereof, a greater length of spring wirethus being subjected to strain, with the result that a more efiicient,longer lived spring results.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafterappear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates the inventionas already reduced to practice in a preferred embodiment,

Fig. 1 is a perspective. view of a mop head equipped with the invention.In this view excessive detail of illustration is avoided by showing onlya few of the cords of the mop head, the periphery of the complete cordcluster being indicated by a dct-and-dash line.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a mop of the pivoted head type showing theinvention applied thereto, only a proximal fragment of the handle beingshown. The handle and attachment being shown in their position when theapex portion of the mop head is being applied with additional pressureto the surface being cleaned. This view is simplified by showing onlyright and left hand portions of the cluster of cords carried by the mophead.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view separately showing the spirally coiledspring member comprising the attachment stressed to an oval contour forattachment to the mop.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of Fig 3.

' Referring in detail to the drawing, therein is .shown a triangulartype of mop head the body portion of which consists of an approximatelytriangular plate 5 bordered by a depending flange 5, said flangeenclosing the attached portion of the cluster of mop cords 1 in theusual manner.

The mop handle 8 is attached to the aforesaid plate 5 in a swingablemanner by means of a ferrule 9 furnished at its lower end with anextension In carrying a bearing curl ll through which passes a pin 12having projecting end portions that are contained within bearing curlsl3fformed in the aforesaid body plate 5. Said extension 10 has a flatface l4 against which abuts one end portion of the spirally coiledspring member l5 provided by this invention, when said resilient wireone end of which is contained in the tubular portion of an eye boot I6and the opposite end of which is anchored in the tubular I portion of alike eye boot l 8a. When said coiled spring member isin an unstressedcondition its axis will extend along a straight line. With this coiledloop of wire stressed into the shape indi- -cated in Fig. 3, the eyeportions of the boots are superimposed one upon the other and throughthe resulting apertures I1 is inserted the screw bolt 18 while thelatter is related to the ferrule extension H3 in the manner shown inFigs. 1 and 2, and then the washer I9 and nut 20 are applied, thussecuring the attachment to the mop head.

In the drawing the eye boots l6 and lea are shown as elongated pieces ofform retaining sheet material each of said pieces having a tubularsocket forming end portion into which an end of the wire coil is fittedand secured in any suitable manner; for example by welds w. The oppositeend portions of said eye boots are shown circularly shaped and flattenedat a right angle to the axes of the eyes through them. These eye bootsmay be varied in shape without departing from the scope of the claimed,invention.

It will be observed that, in the coiled Spring member provided by thisinvention the coils of the mounted spring encircle an oval line, the

smaller end of the oval representing the attached portion of the spring,and the larger end of the oval engaging the upper surface of the mophead in a stable, flatwise, slidable manner.

In the ordinary use of the device upon a floor the operator will notelevate the handle to such an extent as to cause more than a lightpressure of the front or pressure foot portion of the attachment againstthe apex portion of the mop head, but when it is desired to scrub ordust in a more forcible manner a specific fioor area, for example, in acorner portionof a room, where additional dust is apt to accumulate,then the handle is swung to the more nearly vertical positlon shown inFig. 2, thus causing the apex portion of the mop head to be'moreforcibly applied to the underlying floor area under the urge of theattachment, as indicated by the arrow in the latter view. When theoperator does this the friction of that part of the looped wire which isopposite to its attached part tends to widen that portion of the springwhich engages the fiat surface of the mop head thus widening also thearea of the latter engaged by the spring and consequently stabilizingthe action thereof. It will be seen that, in all its operativepositions, the handle means 8 extends beyond that side of the plate 5which is opposite to its front corner portion, said corner portion beingengaged by the spring l5 and being well adapted for cleaning cornerportions of a floor.

- I claim:

1. An attachment secured to a hanche means swingably attached to a mophead: comprising a piece of resilient oval shaped wire whichthroughoutits length is spirally wound, a socket member for each endportion of said coiled wire, the end portions of the coil into whichsaid wire is stormed being fitted within and secured to said socketmember, said socket members each having an eyeletted end portionsuperimposed upon that of the other and forming a bolt hole usable toattach said oval shaped coiled wire to a swingable mop handle adjacentto its juncture to a mop head, in a position yieldingly to swingdownwardly that side of said mop head which is farthest from theoperator.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 and each of; said socket membersconsisting of an elongated piece of form retaining sheet material oneend of which is tubular and contains an endportion of the wire coil andthe opposite end of which is flattened at a right angle to the axis ofits said eye.

3. The combination, with a mop head having a flexible mopping portionapplicable to a surface to be mopped, a plate from one face of whichsaid mopping portion extends, and an elongated handle means one end ofwhich is swingably attached to said plate; of a spring member consistingof a coiled spring shaped as an elongated loop, one end portion of saidloop into which said member is formed being attached to said handlemeans adjacent to said plate, the, opposite end portion of said loopslidably engaging said plate and tending to swing it into the plane inwhich said handle means extends, by applying pressure to the side ofsaid plate farthest from the operator.

4. The subject matter of claim 3 and said loop being of an oval shapewith the narrow end of the oval attached to the mop head and the wideend thereof engaging said plate in a flatwise manner at a pointconsiderably spaced forwardly of the axis about which said handleswings.

5. The combination, with a mop headhaving a flexible mopping portionapplicable to, a surface to be-mopped, a. plate from one faceof whichsaid mopping portion extends, said plate having a front corner portion,and an elongated handle means one end of which is swingably attached tosaid plate, said handle means being upwardly inclined from said plateand extending beyond the side thereof opposite to said corner portion;of a spring member consisting of a coiled spring shaped as an elongatedoval loop, one end portion of said loop being attached to said handlemeans superjacent to said plate, the opposite end portion of said looplaterally engaging the upper surface. of the aforesaid front cornerportion of said plate thus tending, when the operator swings upwardlysaid handle means, forcibly to, press said front corner portion of saidplate downwardly against the surface being mopped.

6. In a mop including a handle adapted to be swingably attached to a mophead, an attachment for the mop comprising a piece of resilient wirewhich is arcuate throughout its length with its end portions adjacent toeach other when the wire is in stressed condition, said wire beingprovided with an eye at each end portion, one of said eyes beingsuperimposed upon the other so that they combine to form a bolt hole,and means extending through said eyes and clamping said wire to saidhandle adjacent to its juncture with the mop head, said resilient wirein the mounted condition having a presser foot portion adapted tooverlie and press down upon the mop head at a point considerably spacedaway from the axis of the swing of said handle.

7. The combination, with a mop head having a flexible mopping portionapplicable to a. surface to be mapped, a plate from one face of whichsaid mopping portion extends, and an elongated handle means. one end ofwhich is swingably attached to said plate; of an elongated spring memberone end portion of which is rigibly attached to said handle meansadjacent to said plate, the opposite end portion of said spring memberslidably engaging said plate in a considerably spaced relation to theaxis of the swing of said handle means when the latter is swun from oneposition to another, said spring tending to swing said plate into theplane in which said handle means extends.

8. An attachment securedto a handle means swingably attached to a mophead, said attachmerit being resilient and having a pre-sser footportion positioned to contact and act upon the mop head at a pointconsiderably spaced away from the axis of the swing of said handle meanswhen said handle means is swung toward one limit of its swing, a part ofsaid attachment in a spaced relation to said presser foot being securedin a fixed manner to said handle means adjacent to its swingableconnection with said mop head enabling the operator to apply varyingadditional amounts of pressure to the part of the mop head underlyingsaid presser foot.

9. The combination, with a mop head comprising a generally triangularbody plate "with depending marginal flange portions and mop cordageextending from the flanged face of'said plate and an elongated handleswingably connected to said plate by a ferrule having a 'substantiallyflat face portion; of a spring member having one end portion secured tosaid ferrule in an abutting relation to its said flat face, the oppositeend portion of said spring member press- MORRIS SOLOMON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,222,971 Moe Apr. 17, 1917 1,792,589 Johnson Feb. 17, 19312,350,221 Eisenhut May 30, 1944 2,368,775 Perret Feb. 6, 1945 2,460,763Oakhill Feb. 1, 1949

